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Latest news about the world’s best trend and more from top companies and tiny startups to let you get an idea of what’s about to impact on both business and consumers
Demand for vintage tech
As Big Tech focuses on the metaverse, demand for vintage tech is surging. Typewriters, record players, film cameras, and old-school video games are making a comeback, even as tech companies push further into virtual and augmented realities.
The retro aesthetic has become so popular that mobile apps like Dispo, which requires you to wait a day before viewing your photos, are used for the sole reason of mimicking the experience of a disposable camera.
Why intentionally downgrade a $1,000 iPhone to mimic a $13 camera? Or write on a device without spell-check or a delete key? Some researchers would say the answer lies in the 20-year cycle of nostalgia: In the 2020s, Y2K is all the rage. Others defend the “Golden 40-Year Rule,” arguing “the prime site of nostalgia is always whatever happened, or is thought to have happened, in the decade between 40 and 50 years past.”
The difference this time around is that technology is deeply embedded in our recent memories of the past. As a New Yorker article exploring the recent rise of pixel art said, we’re in the midst of the “first wave of digital nostalgia.” Add in a global pandemic, constant Zoom meetings, a new TikTok addiction, and limited in-person interaction, and we get “online fatigue,” giving rise to a strong desire for simpler times — regardless of the decade.
Google striving towards rivals on remote working
Google employees consider quitting for rivals that offer permanent remote work. Some workers told us Google is at risk of losing top talent over its resistance to remote working. Inside the return-to-office plan that’s fueling attrition at Google.
Some Google employees have expressed their displeasure over the company’s attitude towards remote working and are considering quitting if not offered the option.
That’s according to the Business Insider which recently spoke with nine US-based Google employees, some of whom told the news site that the firm needs to rethink its resistance to full-time remote-working and that the current Google policies risk losing talent to rival firms.
“A lot of employees are thinking about quitting Google in favour of a workplace with more favourable remote-working conditions,” one current employee said.
TikTok pushing into food delivery
TikTok is pushing into food delivery with food from viral videos.
The short-form video app is opening a chain of 300 restaurants, dubbed TikTok Kitchens, that will deliver some of its most viral food trends — like feta pasta and corn ribs — across the US
The social network is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts to turn meals from popular TikTok videos into actual dishes that users can order. TikTok Kitchen will launch in about 300 US locations in 2022. The company already has plans to serve more than 1,000 locations by the end of next year.
Customers will be able to order dishes that have gone viral on TikTok such as baked feta pasta, a smash burger, corn ribs, and pasta chips. As noted by TechCrunch, baked feta was one of the most searched dishes on Google in 2021 after it gaining popularity on TikTok.
It’s unknown whether these dishes will be permanent on the TikTok Kitchen menu or if they will be available for a limited time. The report mentions that the creators will receive credit for these dishes, which will be “featured prominently throughout the partnership.”
Instagram falls for NFT
Instagram is working on bringing NFTs to a wider audience: Instagram is “actively exploring” how to bring NFTs to a wider audience, CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed last week to Tech Insider.
The platform’s move comes after parent company Facebook rebranded as “Meta” as it pivoted to the metaverse. The integration could enable people to bid for NFTs directly on Instagram, screenshots from an app developer showed.
Instagram posts may come with a “collectible” label, to mark NFTs held by a user within a dedicated section, the screenshots showed. Users could be allowed to make bids for NFTs directly on Instagram, developer Alessandro Paluzzi said. He also noted that Instagram is likely to support Coinbase and MetaMask crypto wallets, as well as Facebook’s Novi wallet.
NFTs are traded online, often linked to a cryptocurrency, and are generally recorded on a blockchain. They’ve experienced an explosion in public interest in 2021. Their total sales so far this year has surged to a whopping $12 billion, driven in part by the likes of big brands like Nike making a push into NFTs and virtual worlds.
In July, Instagram’s parent company Facebook sparked a wave of interest in the metaverse when it rebranded as “Meta” and refocus on the metaverse, a catch-all term for virtual spaces where people can play, work, trade and in general interact digitally using avatars.
sources: Tech Insider I Bloomberg I Cryptonomist I CNet.com
cover image: Obi Onyeador via Unsplash
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